Daughter, Dad on Life Apart, Together

Kioni “Popcorn” Marshall’s parents were separated for five years of her life. Things eventually changed, and they got back together. Kioni, 8, recently asked her father about that separation, and how their family has changed since then.

The pair started off with Beau Harris asking his daughter what person in her life has been the kindest to her.

“I would have to say my mother,” Kioni says. “When I do something and she’s, like, mad — she understands and she tries to lower her temper down. And I think that is kind.”

“Have me and Mom ever extremely disappointed you?” Harris asks.

“Yes. She asked me if I wanted to meet my father, and I was already 5 years old,” Kioni says.

“And I was like, wondering, why couldn’t she have said that before? And I was disappointed that she didn’t,” she says. “If I could do it now, then why couldn’t I have done it when I was 4 or 3, or 1?

And you had disappointed me, Dad,” she says, “because you have not been in my life for five years.”

Kioni got her nickname from Harris, who says she is like a popcorn kernel — she’s hardheaded, and soft on the inside — but with a solid core. She showed some of those characteristics in the interview with her father.

“Are you ashamed that you went with my sister’s and brother’s mom?” she asks.

“No, I’m not ashamed,” Harris says. “I regret that I didn’t make better decisions when I was younger. And I would’ve took more accountability for everyone’s feelings involved.”

Harris asks his daughter, “Have Mom and I ever made you extremely proud of us?”

“I have been extremely proud of you when you came to my life. That was a big deal for me. So much when I met you that I started crying when I went home, and you didn’t come with us.